Preparing For Chanukah 5786

Most people struggle with amuna. Whether you're religious or not, most people struggle with amuna. They have a hard time believing that really cares about every little thing that you're doing. Whether you're religious or not, I've met religious people and non-religious people that have a hard time believing that cares whether you wash your hands in the morning, whether you're going to go to or not, whether you're going to pray on time or not, whether you're going to keep Shabbat or not. A lot of people think that Bah simply is too busy. You should know thinking that is a Greek belief. That's what the Greeks over 2,000 years ago told Am. Yeah, we believe that there's a creator of the world because obviously this big something we live in had to have come from somewhere. So we believe in but we believe he's so big and so powerful he left. He's too busy to care whether you're going to wash your hands or not, whether you'll find a zeug or not, whether your paycheck is going to clear or not, whether the stock will go up or down. He's too busy for that stuff. he left. That's a Greek belief. That's why we celebrate next week, which we'll discuss, you know, certain about it next week when it's more uh uh pertaining to the times. But uh nonetheless, that's what the Greeks wanted us to believe. Many Jews today have the beliefs of the Greeks without even knowing it. There was a study done about two and a half years ago uh by a Jewish organization about the modern Orthodox community. And uh guys, if you're going to play on the phone the whole time, it's better off you just go home because you can play it at home cuz you're bothering me and also you're bothering other people with the phone. Have a little bit of decency. You don't like it, you can go. I'm paying you. You guys are what, 16, 17, 18 years old. I'm paying you $15 to listen to me. The least you can have is actual decency to listen. If you don't want it, you can go home cuz I see the other guys are looking at you. They also want to play on their phone. It's like becoming a yet for the rest. Now, the uh the people 2,000 years ago also had just like us. Unfortunately, they fell for it. and destroyed the beta mikdash because of them. Every day the bet mikdash is not built. That means the word that if it was we would be destroying it. That's why is not telling us no no you don't have the merit to build the bet mikdas right now. Opposite if it was built right now Hashem would be destroying it because of all the that's in our mind. And this study that came out two years ago confirmed it. What did they confirm? One of the findings that they found on the modern Orthodox community, a study of about 4,000 or so different people, which is a relatively decent size study for that uh size of a community, that over 50% over 50% of the modern Orthodox Jews, which again, if you ask a modern Orthodox Jew, are you religious? He's going to absolutely tell you yes. No modern Orthodox Jew will ever tell you, "I'm not religious. I'm secular." The point of being modern Orthodox is that you believe that you are religious, but you're more modern with the times. It's like, you know, stylish religious. And people think this is perfectly fine. Torah doesn't. But people think, okay, no problem. So, what does modern orthodoxy? What do they get us to today? Over 50% of modern Orthodox people, males and females, admitted that they do not believe in they do not believe in divine providence. That is monitoring every single thing that you do, including playing with your phone, including not paying attention, including thinking about the girl you're not even allowed to look at, including whether you're you believe that Hashem is going to give you panas or not. everything, all the things that are in your mind. This is one of the of being a Jew. This one of the foundations of being a Jew is that Hashem is so great. He knows in real time, not like uh slow yesterday's email, real time, 5G, 900g. He knows exactly what every single one of us is thinking right now. What we thought a minute ago. And every single thing is being watched. Every single thing is being written down. Every single thing is being heard. And every single thing is going to be shown to us one day on judgment day. This is one of the foundations of our belief in Judaism. Over 50% of the so-called religious modern Orthodox say this, I don't believe. Now if you know who this person is that says I don't believe it you have somebody your friend your brother your father your mother you yourself don't believe this you cannot be counted in minan need 10 people for to pray together 10 people say kadesh 10 people to have any major Jewish ceremony person who doesn't believe it's considered completely an apicos Now if this was only let's say 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10% it would be a tragedy. 10% of believes does not believe in it's a tragedy. 50% it's an epidemic. To say it's a tragedy it's like saying uh the Holocaust was a tragedy. Any Holocaust survivor would tell you say calling the Holocaust a tragedy is the understatement of the year. Six million Jews dying and getting slaughtered and cold blood. Calling that a tragedy is an understatement. How do you know it's an understatement? Take some time, go pick up one of the or you go on my YouTube channel. You go on your playlist called Holocaust Research. on there there's a list of different lectures that we did about the topic including an actual movie a movie that was made shows you what happened during the Holocaust. After you watch the movie and you wipe your tears and probably clean up the vomit, you're going to realize why it wasn't a tragedy at all. It's not tragic at all. Trag there is no word to describe what happened in the Holocaust. Tragedy is an understatement. It's sad and even more tragic that this generation, most kids have no connection whatsoever to what happened in the Holocaust. Most Jewish kids today have no connection whatsoever. What? What do I care about the Holocaust? What? Daddy, he survived. Okay, so he has a tattoo. I got a tattoo also. He got his for free. What? They have no real understanding of what happened in Holocaust. That means that we don't have to be concerned about the fact that the generation today is not connected to Moshe from 3,000 years ago. We are so far removed from our reality, from our heritage that we cannot even connect to a generation and a half ago. Why? One of the reasons is that we are the most ignorant generation that ever lived. We are simply a generation of people that are unlearned. Most of the information that people learn is on the internet and advertisements. That's how we learn. You tell somebody, "Listen, read this book." They can tell you, "You have a video." Okay, I have a video. Oh, it's an hour and a half. You have something shorter. You have something shorter than an hour and a half. How long do you want it? Three minutes. Three and a half. You know, like uh Pra University, you know, like one of those videos you have that give me the whole world history in three and a half minutes. Can you give me that means that it's impossible to teach such a generation. All of the people that are making these one minute Torah videos, three minute Torah videos, and even ourselves that are making clips of these shim, five, 10 minute clips, these shim, it's not supposed to be your limood. It's not supposed to be your daily studies, 5 10 minutes. That's supposed to be the appetizer. That 5 10 minute clip is supposed to entice you to want to watch the rest of the sh. It's not supposed to be your entire learning. If all you're learning every day is five, 10 minute clips, you're never going to get far away. You're never going to get far, period. You're simply going to stay not very different than how you started. I tell you this hard information because the Holocaust is about to happen again. Gogu Magog is written in the prophets over 3,000 years ago. It's a promise. It's not a uh assumption. It's not a estimate. It's a promise from and anyone that has not done chuva will regret the day they were born. Now, I highly recommend that people take things seriously. Now, does that mean that you have to become a rabbi? No. Does that mean that you have to study from day to night? No. But it means you need to take Judaism seriously. First step, learn what the truth is. Second, do it. We are meant to be a light unto the nations, not to follow [music] their misguided practices. Remember, every Jew has to remember that he's a Jew [music] and she's a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless. It's ail disrespect to the Torah.